ValleyCon 44 - Oct. 19-21 2018 | Ramada Fargo - Fargo, ND

Past Guests of ValleyCon 36

ValleyCon strives to bring the best and most relevant guests featured in sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comics, gaming and film & TV!
These guests include Media Icons, Artists, Authors, Psychics and many more. Autographs are available at one of the industry's LOWEST
price point ever. The guest will do panels, readings and demonstrations for your education and entertainment.

Dean Haglund

Media Guest

Dean is best known for his nine seasons playing Langly, one of the computer geeks known a "The Lone Gunmen" from the FOX TV series The X-Files, as well as from the spin-off series The Lone Gunmen.

Birthday: July 29, 1965Birthplace: Winnipeg, Manitoba

His parents, he jokes, always wondered why he went into acting, "...when I had such a burgeoning animation career." Though he has done cartooning and even played in a rock band ("We were terrible!" he admits), he always returned to his first love – the stage.

His acting career began early, with roles in school plays and community theater at the Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg. When he was old enough to get into bars, he started doing stand-up comedy acts to help pay for acting classes. He eventually moved to Vancouver and began attending Simon Fraser University, getting a Bachelor of Arts in multidisciplinary studies (theatre, dance, and video production). He also joined the Vancouver TheatreSports League; an improv group that was to be his "day job" for many years. While at the Vancouver TheatreSports League, he started scripting some of the group’s routines, including several festivals and corporate stage shows for them. This eventually led to his co-writing the pilot for a situation comedy called "Channel 92," which aired on UTV. About the same time, he began to get bit parts in television shows such as "Sliders," "Lonesome Dove: The Return," and "Street Justice". "I sold drugs to Lorenzo Lamas in [HBO's upcoming] Mask of Death." In an episode of Lonesome Dove: The Series, "I was beaten and hanged before the first commercial." This led to his being hired on for a one-time bit part on a show called "The X-Files."

And the rest, as they say, is history – the history of a hacker-dude named Ringo Langly. Dean, who in real life is the most tech savvy of the Lone Gunmen actors, says that while he can't hack his way into top-level security systems, he does have a good basic knowledge of computers and often has friends call him to help fix their systems. The difference between him and Langly, he says, is that Langly, "... has that really cool software where he can just sit around reading books and drinking Tab while it works!" When he has the time (and he hasn’t had much time lately), Dean enjoys working on his computer.

And yes, he says he IS a Ramones fan.

Dean's real roots lie in stand-up, however, and he still performs regularly in select clubs across North America. He's a member of Vancouver TheatreSports, an improv group that performs on Granville Island (very funny show, by the way).

Inspiration for Langly: Computer-nerd friends and grunge-rocker types. How he's like Langly: "I own a computer, I listen to the Ramones, the long blond hair is for real."
How he's not: "I'm not as paranoid and I don't wear glasses."
Startling revelation: "I'm Canadian and I can't skate."
Favorite episodes: "War of the Coprophages" (killer cockroaches) and "E.B.E." (introduced the Lone Gunmen).
Off duty: Married, practices yoga, can do splits.
Is the truth out there? Regarding conspiracy theories he says, "They're all true--but only to certain people."
What he'd like for Langly: "A job at the Pentagon."

Notable TV guest appearances
1."Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1998) playing "MIB (Mr. Lincoln) " in episode: "Honey, I Shrunk an Illegal Alien"
2. Sliders (1995) playing "Stockboy" in episode: "Fever"
3. Street Justice - Appeared in one episode. No information is available.
4. Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years (1995) playing Nathan Silas in episode: "The Return".
5. The Commish (1994) playing "Zack" in episode: "Working Girls".
6. The Commish (1992) playing "Drug Dealer" in episode: "V.V."

Miscellaneous crew filmography
Channel 92 (1996). "Pilot". Haglund was the cowriter. "I own a computer, I listen to the Ramones, the long blond hair is for real. I'm not as paranoid and I don't wear glasses."-- Dean Haglund, "Langly" on The X-Files, regarding any similarities between him and Langly.

The following is an interview conducted shortly before the final “X-Files” episode was aired.

As The X-Files was winding down it's nine year run on FOX with a two hour series finale, Dean Haglund laments on his time as one of the beloved Lone Gunmen, "Langly," and what the series had meant for him personally. And what the future holds for him.

"To be nine years with something and yet not be with it everyday was amazing. I did some of it so I could see the forest grow but not be a tree in it so to speak. And yet at the same time to be included in it. I had tons of free time to develop other things yet it was regular employment." Sort of like having your cake and eating it to? "It's exactly like that. I believe I'm the luckiest person. Sure I would have wanted more money, but I'll get that on my own. I've had the opportunity to do stand-up, all the conventions, and you know, be in the show once and a while. I don't think if I was in it full time, it'd have offered me that opportunity."

The opportunity to play one of the Gunmen was supposed to be a one time appearance. The Lone Gunmen were created by former "X-Files" producers Glenn Morgan and James Wong as sort of an homage to Sci-Fi convention goers, but the fans immediately connected with the unlikely heroes played by Haglund (Langly), Tom Braidwood (Frohike) and Bruce Harwood (Byers), and what started as a one shot appearance, grew into a nine year run that eventually lead to a spin-off series.

The Gunmen are such a part of The X-Files universe, that when this seasons episode "Jumping the Shark" killed the beloved trio off, fans were calling for Chris Carter's head on a platter. Fans needn't worry though, the Gunmen are back and very much alive (There is a sequence where Mulder has a vision of people that he's dealt with through the years who are now dead), and working to help Mulder. While Haglund won't divulge just how the Gunmen are "brought back to life" he does allude to the fact that it might have something to do with the character Morris Fletcher (Played by Michael McKean).

As for the demise, albeit temporary demise, of the Gunmen, Haglund has a theory to Chris Carter's madness. "Ya know, ever since the first season he's said no one was safe. I think he's got that Stephen King thing where he's really angry at the fans." Really? "It seems that way doesn't it? Seems like he's killing off now, after nine seasons of fighting with network executives, he's taking it out on the show. He's laying siege to any and all!"

Conspiracy theories involving Stephen King aside, Haglund recounts when he realized the Gunmen were something special. "We had come back for our second episode, still feeling like extras, and producer David Nutter, whom we'd never met before, came up and said 'Hey guys, have you seen Cinefantastique?' He showed us the article that had a first season review and we were called out. We went 'Hey! Somebody's watching us!' That was our first indication that the Gunmen were a part of The X-Files genre. I'll never forget it. We were outside on a picnic table, and it was a sunny day." The popularity of the Gunmen grew to the point where FOX eventually gave them their own series, aptly titled "The Lone Gunmen" that debuted in March 2001. The series, while loved by many, never could find it's feet and was not renewed for another season.

Haglund believes there was no one reason as to why the show didn't work, and that in itself doomed the series. "If there is one thing that doesn't work, you can fix it. Everybody had something different about the series that they didn't like, so there was no way to say 'Ok, this is what's broke, fix it.'" Haglund was characteristically philosophical about the series from the beginning. "It was a mixed blessing really, because it took me back to Vancouver, which is where I'm from, but it also took me away from L.A., where I had some stuff going." Haglund is quick to point out that he's not ungrateful for the series. "It was the opportunity to do your own series. I guess it's sort of like anything else. You're happy if it did go and happy if it didn't. You can't really attach yourself to a show. If you're clinging your whole life to it and it goes away, then your whole life falls apart. " One thing Haglund has not done is hang his hopes on a single endeavor. He has a slew of projects in the works, including working with a production company to put together a show for the Sci-Fi Channel. "I don't want to say what it is just yet because the idea is so awesome! I'm also working on a half hour sitcom for American TV."

In between show developments, he 's still doing stand-up comedy. And as if that wasn't enough, he's teaming up with Peter Murietta to write a Bizarro issue for D.C. Comics. He's quick to clarify that it's "going to be a stand alone like the Superman Bizarro. That Bizarro, not the character "Bizarro." It's part of the series of Alternative Artists doing Superman comics. We're (Dean and Murietta) doing Batman. I think it's coming out in the Fall."

I asked Haglund what his feelings were as he left the FOX lot for the last time, and closed this chapter of his life. He described feeling a bit shocked by his reaction to leaving for the last time. "I knew it was ending for 3-4 months. It was like, 'I'm already over it.' At the same time there was kind of a pang. I was shocked as I was driving away. I got the pang, and that made me smile, and that was it. The smile was a job well done. Wasn't that fun?" "I was just so excited to be a part of something my kids thought was cool. They're big fans of the show and so it was great to be cool in their eyes."—Blythe Danner on her role as A.D. Cassidy in The X-Files movie, Fight the Future. And in case you forgot, one of her children is an actress named Gwyneth Paltrow.

Timothy Zahn

Author Guest

Timothy Zahn, the Hugo Award-winning author of more than twenty original novels and the all-time bestselling original Star Wars(tm) novel Heir to the Empire, has captivated readers with his Cobra and Blackcollar series, as well as such marvelous works as his recent Angelmass.

Tom Nguyen

Artist Guest

Tom is a DC and Marvel artist (Blackest Night, Superman, Batman…) as well as an acclaimed Pinup artist with a new book coming out this fall...

Born in Minneapolis and raised in Burnsville, MN, Tom has been drawing for as long as he could remember. At age 14, he was already commissioned to do portraits of baseball players, and at 16 he was hired to draw caricatures at Valleyfair amusement park and at the Mall of America. But at age 19 Tom was able to break into the industry that he loved most: comic books. Since then he has done work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Seattle Weekly, Wizard magazine, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Upper Deck Entertainment, Titan Books, and the television series Little Miss Perfect for WeTV among other clients.

Tom has also established himself as a renowned pin-up painter, having worked with some of the top professional models and pageant winners. Although he jokingly refers to himself as "The Prince of Pin-Up," he is most definitely the undisputed "King of Pageantry Pin-Up" as there is no other artist who has worked with more high-placing pageant competitors than Tom has. His work also includes Playboy models and NFL cheerleaders. Tom's pin-up work has been featured in publications such as Club International magazine, American Curves magazine, Aphrodisia 2: Art of the Female Form, and the upcoming How To Airbrush Pin-Ups due Fall 2009. He is also a prize sponsor to the Mrs. Minnesota-, Mrs. Iowa-, and Mrs. Wisconsin-America pageants, providing his rendition of each of the state's winners.

In 2005, Tom and his partner Jeff Pederson released two instructional DVDs: The Doug Mahnke Style of Pencilling and the Tom Nguyen Style of Inking. In September 2007, Tom added "author" to his resume as his first instructional book, Incredible Comics With Tom Nguyen: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Kick-ass Comic Art, hit the shelves at many bookstores. Currently, Tom is writing and illustrating the sequel to his instructional book entitled Incredible Comic Book Women With Tom Nguyen: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Kick-ass Babes.